{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,6]],"date-time":"2026-06-06T09:33:48Z","timestamp":1780738428353,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":6,"publisher":"Scientific Scholar","issue":"1-2","content-domain":{"domain":["lww.com","ovid.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2020,7]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n            <jats:title>Background &amp; objectives:<\/jats:title>\n            <jats:p>Public health and diagnostic laboratories are facing huge sample loads for COVID-19 diagnosis by real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). High sensitivity of optimized real-time RT-PCR assays makes pooled testing a potentially efficient strategy for resource utilization when positivity rates for particular regions or groups of individuals are low. We report here a comparative analysis of pooled testing for 5- and 10-sample pools by real-time RT-PCR across 10 COVID-19 testing laboratories in India.<\/jats:p>\n          <\/jats:sec>\n          <jats:sec>\n            <jats:title>Methods:<\/jats:title>\n            <jats:p>Ten virus research and diagnostic laboratories (VRDLs) testing for COVID-19 by real-time RT-PCR participated in this evaluation. At each laboratory, 100 nasopharyngeal swab samples including 10 positive samples were used to create 5- and 10-sample pools with one positive sample in each pool. RNA extraction and real-time RT-PCR for SARS-CoV-2-specific E gene target were performed for individual positive samples as well as pooled samples. Concordance between individual sample testing and testing in the 5- or 10-sample pools was calculated, and the variation across sites and by sample cycle threshold (C<jats:sub>t<\/jats:sub>) values was analyzed.<\/jats:p>\n          <\/jats:sec>\n          <jats:sec>\n            <jats:title>Results:<\/jats:title>\n            <jats:p>A total of 110 each of 5- and 10-sample pools were evaluated. Concordance between the 5-sample pool and individual sample testing was 100 per cent in the C<jats:sub>t<\/jats:sub> value \u226430 cycles and 95.5 per cent for C<jats:sub>t<\/jats:sub> values \u226433 cycles. Overall concordance between the 5-sample pooled and individual sample testing was 88 per cent while that between 10-sample pool and individual sample testing was 66 per cent. Although the concordance rates for both the 5- and 10-sample pooled testing varied across laboratories, yet for samples with C<jats:sub>t<\/jats:sub> values \u226433 cycles, the concordance was \u226590 per cent across all laboratories for the 5-sample pools.<\/jats:p>\n          <\/jats:sec>\n          <jats:sec>\n            <jats:title>Interpretation &amp; conclusions:<\/jats:title>\n            <jats:p>Results from this multi-site assessment suggest that pooling five samples for SARS-CoV-2 detection by real-time RT-PCR may be an acceptable strategy without much loss of sensitivity even for low viral loads, while with 10-sample pools, there may be considerably higher numbers of false negatives. However, testing laboratories should perform validations with the specific RNA extraction and RT-PCR kits in use at their centres before initiating pooled testing.<\/jats:p>\n          <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.4103\/ijmr.ijmr_2304_20","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,9,4]],"date-time":"2020-09-04T13:19:55Z","timestamp":1599225595000},"page":"88-94","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1097\/lww.0000000000001000","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":43,"title":["Pooled testing for COVID-19 diagnosis by real-time RT-PCR"],"prefix":"10.25259","volume":"152","author":[{"given":"Ira","family":"Praharaj","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Amita","family":"Jain","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mini","family":"Singh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Anukumar","family":"Balakrishnan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rahul","family":"Dhodapkar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Biswajyoti","family":"Borkakoty","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Munivenkatappa","family":"Ashok","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Pradeep","family":"Das","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Debasis","family":"Biswas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Usha","family":"Kalawat","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jyotirmayee","family":"Turuk","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"A.P.","family":"Sugunan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shantanu","family":"Prakash","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Anirudh K.","family":"Singh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rajamani","family":"Barathidasan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Subhra","family":"Subhadra","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jyotsnamayee","family":"Sabat","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"M.J.","family":"Manjunath","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Poonam","family":"Kanta","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nagaraja","family":"Mudhigeti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rahul","family":"Hazarika","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hricha","family":"Mishra","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kumar","family":"Abhishek","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"C.","family":"Santhalembi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Manas Ranjan","family":"Dikhit","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Neetu","family":"Vijay","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jitendra","family":"Narayan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Harmanmeet","family":"Kaur","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sidhartha","family":"Giri","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nivedita","family":"Gupta","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"10894","reference":[{"key":"R2-13-20241212","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2000045","DOI":"10.2807\/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.3.2000045","article-title":"Detection of 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) by real-time RT-PCR","volume":"25","author":"Corman","year":"2020","journal-title":"Euro Surveill"},{"key":"R3-13-20241212","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e00512","DOI":"10.1128\/JCM.00512-20","article-title":"Laboratory diagnosis of COVID-19: Current issues and challenges","volume":"58","author":"Tang","year":"2020","journal-title":"J Clin Microbiol"},{"key":"R4-13-20241212","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"891","DOI":"10.1128\/JCM.05631-11","article-title":"Pooling nasopharyngeal\/throat swab specimens to increase testing capacity for influenza viruses by PCR","volume":"50","author":"Van","year":"2012","journal-title":"J Clin Microbiol"},{"key":"R6-13-20241212","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"216","DOI":"10.4103\/ijmr.IJMR_594_20","article-title":"Laboratory preparedness for SARS-CoV-2 testing in India: Harnessing a network of virus research & diagnostic laboratories","volume":"151","author":"Gupta","year":"2020","journal-title":"Indian J Med Res"},{"key":"R7-13-20241212","first-page":"30362","article-title":"Pooling of samples for testing for SARS-CoV-2 in asymptomatic people","volume":"S1473-3099","author":"Lohse","year":"2020","journal-title":"Lancet Infect Dis"},{"key":"R10-13-20241212","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"715","DOI":"10.1093\/ajcp\/aqaa064","article-title":"Assessment of specimen pooling to conserve SARS-CoV-2 testing resources","volume":"153","author":"Abdalhamid","year":"2020","journal-title":"Am J Clin Pathol"}],"container-title":["Indian Journal of Medical Research"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.lww.com\/10.4103\/ijmr.IJMR_2304_20","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,2]],"date-time":"2025-07-02T23:05:55Z","timestamp":1751497555000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/ijmr.org.in\/pooled-testing-for-covid-19-diagnosis-by-real-time-rt-pcr-a-multi-site-comparative-evaluation-of-5-10-sample-pooling\/"}},"subtitle":["A multi-site comparative evaluation of 5- &amp; 10-sample pooling"],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2020,7]]},"references-count":6,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1-2","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2020]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.4103\/ijmr.ijmr_2304_20","relation":{},"ISSN":["0971-5916"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0971-5916","type":"print"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2020,7]]}}}